Rennel chortled. “He’ll poison them both.”

“No. I can cook. Sure. Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of her.”

Jean switched off the water and swung the tub onto the small kitchen table. She laid out a clean white towel, soap, the bottle of oil, and a box of cotton. As she left the room, a flash of white lace showed beneath her skirt. Her legs gleamed with some smooth sheen. Stockings. I’d forgotten what they looked like. Rennel watched the neat legs till they disappeared.

“Doesn’t she know?” He leered and winked.

“Sssh!” I hissed.

Rennel frowned. “How come you were telling me all that shit before if there isn’t really a baby?”

Carlotta was in the doorway with the child in her left arm. Her eyes flashed darkly beneath the gray shawl.

“The only thing there really is in this house is the baby.”

She eyed Sam and the towel over his head. He snatched it off. She approached the tub as Jean came in with a diaper and shirt, folded neatly.

“I don’t want my baby bathed in plastic.”

Jean’s brows crimped a little. “Well, it’s handy and light. He won’t hurt himself if he slips on it. But I’ve got an old enamel tub you can use when you’re stronger.”

Carlotta shrugged, unfolded the blanket, let it drop. The child was naked. The tiny limbs drooped awkwardly from his wide, swollen belly. His face was small and purple, his eyes closed. The belly rose and fell as he breathed. The umbilical cord was a black finger of flesh that rose abruptly from his abdomen, tied off in a neat white knot. Jean held the child firmly and easily on one arm. With her free hand, she smoothed water over his skin with a piece of cotton. Then a dab of oil. She wiped the ugly skin around his eyes, over his hair and ears, around the thick wrinkles at his neck.

Carlotta leaned forward, watched as Jean wiped the baby’s groin.

Rennel whispered hoarsely, “He’s got wrinkles in his ass!”

I watched Sam’s face, inscrutable and pale, as he stared from the dim corner of the kitchen. The baby’s small face puckered, his obscene lips parted over his pink-ridged gums, and the sound that emerged between them lifted all the small hairs on my spine. My ears shrank back against my skull. Carlotta leaned farther forward, her lips set into a thin line. The baby took a breath and screamed again.